


The Intergalactic  Grift

by ValeriesRose



Series: Foile A Dux:The Highway man and the Grifter [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Jack Has Issues, Jack's Heist, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-11 03:06:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4418744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValeriesRose/pseuds/ValeriesRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the Galaxies stop glittering. This is the tale of a Trickster and his Shadow and why Earth is good enough these days</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Intergalactic  Grift

The Intergalactic Grift  
Tags: John Hart/ Jack Harkness, backstory, , Starship Troopers jokes, original alien character, basically the future is an orgy, John Hart is a psychopath, these are not their real names, time agents and the size of their whriststraps, ep. Ref. The Empty Child, John Hart is an asshole, The Dandy Highway man, Adam Ant jokes, bad kink practices,, two broken people don’t equal a whole but damm they try, Loots of sex, this fandom did you expect anything else?, “Bikini Cops” is a thing, mind-speak, John and Jack love each other, “he and I shared something”, Ep ref. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, ep. Ref. Adam, Trigger warnings: child soldiers, experiments on kids, the future government has no soul, edge play, random Buffy refs because Spike!, John Hart is not as evil as he seems, Jack talks more to people he loves, I ship these two so hard even though they are messed up, I wrote this for people I love.  
Part 1 of Foile a deux: The Highwayman and the Grifter.  
“We’re down to our last few bits, Farm Boy. Any bright ideas?”  
Puruzi craned his neck as if searching the stale recycled air for a reply, and Azeban admired the long thin line of his throat, longed to map it with his lips and tough... He shifted, redirecting his attention. Dammit. Need a dust-up.  
“Nope. No dam bright ideas,” Puruzi draped himself over Azeban’s left shoulder, then: “Hey, Azy.”  
“What?” he had been eyeing the other side of the bar, there was a large Twindarin who seemed to be spoiling for a fight.  
“What about this?” with a tug on Azy’s earlobe.  
“Dammit Pur, no. not my earring.” He was very proud of the earring, had won it in a bet.  
“Should be worth a bit, we could just pull a switch, get some cash.”  
Azy drew in a deep breath. “Fine. Here.” He unhooked the earring and tugged it away. It was a tiny silver skull with bones underneath, and the short chain attaching it to his ear was designed to break before his lobe could tear, making it practical to wear in a fight.  
“I’d better get it back, yeah?”  
“Yup.” Puruzi bounced off looking for a mark, and Azeban slumped against the bar.  
“Hello, sweetheart.”  
Cassie turned her head. Ah. Brilliant. She admitted though, this one was at least attractive, like an ancient film star, complete with striking blue eyes and dark hair cut just a tad too long to be military standard.  
“Hi” she reached out mentally and found goodness buried deep under the charm and a vendetta against some creatures, attacked home world, and took brother... the agency...

His mental shields slammed into her, and when she blinked, clearing her head, his hands were at her throat, poised to kill with a minimum of fuss. Shit. This one hadn’t felt like a killer.  
“You could ask a fella’s permission. I’m not exactly shy.”  
“I’m sorry. Shall we start again... um...?” She grouped, but got no name, merely a vague impression of royal blue, long life-line longer than any human should have. Immortal. But not yet. There was a strange gold burst on his lifeline, after which, the line was darker, almost navy.  
“Puruzi” he said, answering her silent query. He released her as well. “Usually poke around in stranger’s heads?”  
“Cassandra. Cassie. No.” At least usually they don’t catch me.  
“Nice to meet you, Cassie.” He bent over her hand like a gentleman from ancient Earth history and she almost laughed.  
“You’re a grifter...”  
“Yup,” and he shrugged it off as nothing.  
“Partner?”  
He nodded and Cassie’s attention was drawn to a blonde man leaning against the bar, whose languid slouch was very misleading. Tension hummed in him, it was almost audible. He was half a head shorter and thinner than Puruzi but no less powerful, the kind one might underestimate in a fight, and then be painfully surprised.  
“Azy.” Puruzi was gesturing at him and the man ambled over. Cassie focused again.  
This man was scarlet in her head, a spill of blood, with the jagged edges of chaos, unstable. Underneath that though, a soft side and a longing to be loved that only comes from being abandoned as a child. Also the scarlet and blue lines were entwined. Not just lovers then. An Agency pair-bond. They’re ex-Agents.  
“This is Azeban,” announced Puruzi.  
“Hello.”  
The man looked her over, slow and lazy, and smiled. “Hello, ducks” his accent was unmistakably New London. Piccadilly, maybe?  
Closer up, Cassie saw that the dark blonde of his hair was shaved close to his head and that his left ear was pierced. She reached up wanted to touch.  
“Well, you’re a crap mark” Puruzi was watching her with amusement. “We were gonna have you buy this, convince you it was priceless.”  
He tipped the earring into her palm. She grinned up at Azeban. “Vain, are we?”  
He smiled back. “Wouldn’t you be, ducks?”  
It was true, they were both lovely boys, gifted with those small touches of femininity that push men over the edge of handsome into gorgeous, full lips long lashes.  
“I can give you start up money but I want an exchange.”  
“Alright, what?”  
“I want to join this little crew of yours”. They exchanged looks. “I’m a good lure and I’ve worked with crews before.” They both relaxed.  
“Any special talents?”  
Cassie grinned. Then shifted, let them see her felinus form. They both stared but Puruzi spoke first. “Whoa. A Bastlid.” Cassie grinned and held up her paws, unsheathed her claws. “Poison. No guns for me boys, thanks very much, boys”  
My boys. Mine. She shoved the thought away. Stop that. Been too long since you had a crew. 

At first, when Cassie slid up from sleep, she wasn’t sure where she was, then the hotel rooms ceiling came into focus and she remembered. Ah yes she rolled over and saw the bed beside her own was empty. She wandered into the kitten/living room combo and a female AI voice said, “hello female life form”. She froze and felt her claws twitch in their sheathes  
“Oi! Sheila!” Turning her head, Cassie saw the blonde one, Azeban, lounging among the sofa’s cushions. His skin hair and white shirt had almost blended in. he was also wearing black trousers and his slender feet were bare. Out of the trappings of that red leather coat and those boots, he looked young and much friendlier. “Say Cassandra, Sheila”, he instructed the AI system.  
“Cassandra” said the system.  
“Much better sweets, ta”  
“You’re welcome,” said Sheila  
He turned a grin on Cassie. “So Kitty, how do you like it here?”  
She looked him over. “Just fine, sweet cheeks”  
“Taking offense, are you?” he grinned.  
“No you can call me kitty if you like”  
“Azy” he said. “My friends call me Azy”  
“Oh, are we friends?” she moved closer, straddling his legs. He smiled up at her in response.  
“Have you sucked him yet?” Turning her head, Cassie saw Puruzi standing in the doorway to the en-suite, “No. Not yet” she moved her hips as a promise and Azy chuckled low in his throat and moved his hips back.  
“Then you aren’t friends, are you City Slut?” Puruzi came closer. He was dressed similarly to Azy in a white shirt and dark pants, and the doubling effect was odd.  
“You’d know, Farm boy” Azy was looking at Pur over her shoulder, smirking at him.  
“I wouldn’t actually. Is this favoritism going to continue?”  
“Perhaps if you aren’t good.”  
“Oh,” he chuckled. Cassie swung her leg back over to stand up. “Show me.”  
His eyes flicked up. "Ok."  
"Huh" Azy made a noise that was probably supposed to be bored but came out too needy to be convincing.  
“May I?”  
They both turned to look at her but it was Puruzi who spoke. "Huh?"  
"A link." They nodded, and she put out her pink tendril, touching the scarlet and blue ones carefully. Both men had dropped their shields, but she could still feel the shielding at alert like guard dogs. That was the difference between someone who shielded naturally and someone who was trained to it,  
Having fun, ducks?  
She opened her eyes. "Thank you."  
"Our pleasure." Puruzi grinned fully and his teeth were very white and sharp around the edges Cassie pulled back, turning off the link. There would be time to play like that, but later, when they all knew each other better. For now, she settled back to watch.  
Azy reached up, and ran his thumb over the curve of the other man's lips Puruzi responded by ducking his head against the touch, putting their foreheads together. "What do you say, my love? Shall we put on a show?"  
"Oh yeah" Puruzi’s grin could have lit countries with its blaze. He snaked forward and pulled off Azeban's shirt with the ease of long practice. Azy hummed in pleasure.  
Even though she was no longer in contact with them, Cassie could nevertheless sense their pleasure shimmering white-hot, but tempered with love. She had never experienced a pair-bond first hand, but she had heard tell of them. Para-military organizations like the agency used pair bonds to make sure partners (or a group, despite its name a pair bond could be applied to many as well as just two) wouldn’t abandon each other in battle. The unbreakable sexual and spiritual bond was, in fact, a beneficial side effect. She refocused just in time to see Puruzi lick along Azy’s chest from one nipple to the other. Azy made a strangled, helpless sound that Cassie filed away in the “Make him do that lots” category and Pur caught her eye.  
“He loves that. Especially when you suck for a bit, then bite, really hard. Made him cum that way once, never touched him.”  
“Farm Boy fails to mention that there was a bit of a dry spell involved.” Azy was breathless but still coherent. He gave a friendly shove to the head that was now making its way towards the untouched part in question.  
Puruzi shook his head. “No, sweetheart I’m just that good. I’ll show you too if you want.” He flashed a grin over his shoulder at her.  
“Cocky backwater bastard, isn’t he….“ Azy was abruptly cut off as Puruzi nipped at him  
“Say that again but, ya know, maybe without all the sighing and yelping.  
“Fuck me.”  
“I’m trying, Goddess knows…” He tugged at Azy’s trousers, and the other man lifted his hips to help. Cassie moved closer, she had seen human men naked before, though not that many, her home world had been a rather xenophobic place. Puruzi flashed his eyes upward and winked at her, then lowered his head to suck  
“Mmmph.” Azy’s head hit the back of the chaise with a thump. Cassie watched fascinated at the hollow of Puruzi’s checks around the swell of Azy, the way his eyes were closed and his tongue worked.  
Cassie listened to Azy’s panting breath in the room for a split second, before she crawled up the sofa and kissed him hard. He turned his head to her kissing back, one hand running down her body, the other tangled in what it could grasp of Puruzi’s hair. She pulled back slightly to watch him pant, jaw lose and eyes gone grey.  
“How good is he, really?”  
“All bragging aside, kitten, he is really good.” Azy pulled the straps down off her dress and with her help tugged it over her head. She shook it laughing to remove the hair from her eyes, and he laughed with her.  
“Usual attire?” Azy was gesturing at her lack of underclothing.  
“You’ll find out.”  
Puruzi snorted a laugh through his nose, and Azy jerked. “Slow down, Farm boy”  
Puruzi pulled off, grinning and wiped his chin with the back of his hand.  
“Well, hello”  
“Hello” Cassie maneuvered slightly, giving him more to look at while still allowing Azy’s hands to roam. Then, “You’re rude”  
“What?” his expression was adorable.  
“Finish him, why don’t you?”  
“Oh” Puruzi smiled again, this time vulpine around the edges.  
“Go on” she bent down and gave his head a push. He went back to work causing Azy’s hand which had been tracing over her breasts to jerk a little. She laughed and caught it, guiding down her body.  
“Impatient Kitty, aren’t you?” He smoothed a hand over her stomach, teasing before slipping it through her folds.  
“Feel familiar?” she realized her faux pas just as she spoke, she had no way of knowing if human was his default female.  
“Yes indeed. And soaking, I might add.“ as he grinned at her.  
Later. She filed that one away for future use, males of this species seemed to like to lick things. At the moment his fingers were very distracting, moving around and learning the contours.  
“How’s it feel?”  
“Very nice.” and he bent forward to kiss her, abandoning his hold on Puruzi’s hair, to slide a hand along her hip. At that point, Puruzi did something which caused Azy to jerk again. She only realized he’d cum because Puruzi crawled up past her licking the last traces off his lips  
“Some gentleman you are” he chided Azy. Azy blinked back at him heavily, cheek bones stark against his skin as blew out a long breath.  
“Idiot!” Puruzi gave the other man a swat, pushing him off the edge of the chaise. Azy blinked up at him sleepily, and Cassie crawled over to take his place. The physical differences between the two men were more evident in proximity, Puruzi was broader too, she noted as he straddled her hips.  
“Is this ok?” he reached up to cup her face, looking for permission.  
“More than” and she moved against him. a full body wiggle. He inhaled, keeping his smiling eyes fixed on her face. “I’m not your first human man?”  
“No.”  
He pouted, which made him prettier, somehow, “That’s okay though because you’re my first Bastlid.”  
She was about to answer when Azy stuck his head over the chaise edge “For Gaia’s sake, Farm Boy, use your mouth for something useful, yeah?”  
“I did.”  
“For her, you backwater moron!”  
Sensing this could go on all day, Cassie lent forward and captured Puruzi’s mouth with her own. He laughed into the kiss and sat back, pulling her into his lap as he did so.  
“Wow!” he said, smiling up at her, and she laughed back, enjoying his delight for itself as well as in feedback.  
“How is it?” Azy’s voice, nosey.  
“Amazing”, says Puruzi. Cassie closed her eyes to better hone in on his pleasure, mingling with her own. When she opened them again, Azy was behind her with his hands on her hips. Eyes on her face, he slid his left hand down over her clit.  
“Oooo” and as she leaned back a little to give him more room, his chuckle, low and filthy, whispered in her ear, “You’re gorgeous. Yes, you are.”  
Puruzi looked over Cassie’s shoulder at him, mouth twitching. “Who are you talking to, Azy?”  
Cassie couldn’t see it but she could hear his expression in the tone of his voice as he said, “Both of you...”  
After a time, with some sense that Cassie didn’t possess for them yet, Azy moved around to watch both their faces. Even without the link active she could feel the red and blue, the link calling home home as if from a great distance. She felt it just before her orgasm took over all her senses.  
Cassie had to say on reflection, this was an improvement. The other human males she’d interacted with were more skittish, particularly post-sex.  
“Hi!” Puruzi was peering at her face.  
“Hello...”  
“You wandered off for a second.” He had the most guileless smile she’d ever seen. One wanted to smile back immediately after seeing it. “  
“I am sorry. I was thinking, that’s all”  
“About what?”  
“Human men tend to be nervous around me. Lack of exposure, I suppose.”  
“Huh!” This snort of disbelief came from Azy who was sitting beside Pur and holding him one arm around his shoulders.  
“Should I go, or…. “ She half-rose, wanting to force the issue but hoping….  
“No, no. We should have been clearer. We want very much for you to stay.”  
“Why would you trust me?”  
Azy shrugged, a twitch of his shoulders. “We almost rolled you at the bar, if you hadn’t been who you’d said then, you would have turned us in for that”  
“What if I just wanted the reward?”  
“Trust us, kitten, you couldn’t spend it. Not unless you had six lifetimes”  
“What he said.”  
Oh Gods, they’re so young it flashed across her brain before she could stop it.  
But still…”Would I be your first time working with a crew of sorts?”  
“Sort of. We’ve worked with a few, on and off. But Pur’s got an eye for machines, electric or otherwise, and he’s a decent pilot”  
“AI likes me” grinned Puruzi  
“I concur this statement”, piped in Sheila which made them all laugh.  
“ Sheila likes him because he’s the one that named her.”  
“Machines?” she inquired, turning to Pur.  
“Guns mostly. I can build them from scraps, quick as you want ‘em.”  
“His power sources are rubbish”, Azy put in. Puruzi tugged away from his arm a little.  
“Yeah, so I’m working on them. They saved your sorry City ass, didn’t they?”  
“Yes” Azy conceded, pulling him back. Azy looked at Cassie, smirking a little “He’s compensating, of course. Puruzi pulled away completely and shoved him over the chaise’s edge. ”Oops City Slut.”  
“Ow” came Azy’s voice from the ground.  
“Do the two of you ever stop?” She was starting to realize what living with the two of them was going to be like.  
“Only when we’re sleeping, ducks, and sometimes not even then.”

“Human men!” even through the com’s small display, she could see Kyi’s displeasure.  
“Don’t be such an old fuddy-duddy, Kyi. Human men are just fine.” Cassie sounded petulant, even to herself.  
“But”-the dolphin creature clicked her tongue, a remnant of her own language, now of course abandoned by the translations, as Cassie didn’t speak Clikkak.  
“No” and Cassie cut the connection with a firm beep.  
At the sound of the coms switching off, Puruzi appeared, gazing at her curiously. “What was that, Cass?”  
“An old friend”  
His brow furrowed. “What kind of ’Old Friend?’”  
“I knew her a long time ago, before I took to the life.”  
“So..” She turned the chair to face him where he was busying himself with mugs and the kalfa maker. “What’s your story?”  
“Me? I’m just a farm kid.” He flashed a grin over his shoulder at her but she was beginning to sort through his smiles and not be fooled by that ancient American grin.  
“Not true. There are no human-run farms anymore, so why does Azeban call you Farm boy?”  
“I’m a colony kid. Anyone who grew up in a city likes to think they’re better.”  
“Which Colony?”  
“The Boshane.”  
“Wait a nano” she cast her mind back a little and matched up the blue of his eyes with her memories.  
“You were the public face of your people. I remember the pro-jecto posters when I was young.”  
“Oh thanks, now I feel old”, he hand her a mug of the Kalfa and sat.  
“You were young too, Just 13 or so.”  
“I was 12. ‘The Face of Bo’” his long square fingers sliced the air in quotes. “Stupid name.”  
“Your family must have been proud.”  
“Would’ve been, yeah. They were mostly dead by then.”  
That hit like a blow, making her gasp. “By the Lady’s box, I’m sorry.”  
He nodded, face solemn. “I was a good pilot, even then. They probably would have sent me to The Agency if they’d lived. I got the acceptance transmission a week before The Creatures came.”  
“The Creatures?”  
He nodded again. “They killed nearly the whole colony, my mom and I were among the few that were left. They took my little brother, and would’ve taken me if I hadn’t hidden in a tree. After that, despite what Mom said, I was too busy seeking revenge to care about the Academy. We found them once and attacked them but I didn’t find my brother. By the time the Agency came calling, a job looked good, even young as I was. They hired me on publicly as an Agent, like the rest, but also as an Enforcer.”  
“A what?”  
His gaze was steady. “It’s someone who tortures for information, does whatever it takes to get it. I was hard, I’d lost something when Dad died. A piece of myself I guess. I’m still looking for it, not sure I’ll ever find it. I have 2 years that are just black in my head, can’t remember a thing” “Whatever they took, I know I want it back. “  
“How old were you?”  
He lowered his lids a little over his eyes. “14”  
“They taught a child how to torture?”  
He shook his head. “I wasn’t a child, and the beings I harmed weren’t deserving of the name.”  
“Semantics.”  
“No”, his eyes had gone storm grey, like black ice. “Not for me it isn’t. “  
Cassie opened her mouth to speak when Azy wandered in and took in the both of them.  
“Pur?” questioning and wary.  
“I asked him about his past” Cassie felt the muscles on her back flex, trying to raise hair that wasn’t there in her current form.  
“Oh hell. Never do that.” Azy flopped into the third chair around the breakfast nook. “He gets all broody when you do that, takes a right good fuck to make him stop.”  
There was a pause while they both glared at him. He sighed. “Since you didn’t ask, I’m from New New London, originally. Probably Piccadilly area, parents were maybe shopkeepers or some other bucolic frecking thing, I dunno, because they died when I was 7. I can’t remember much after that till I was 11 or so, I busked for a few years, wrote my own stuff, ta very much”  
“You did?” came from both of the others.  
“You don’t play any of it” from Puruzi.  
“I do, you just don’t listen, Farm Boy”  
Turning to Cassie, “I’ll show you sometime. Then I met this fine example at the Training Center, and the rest is history” He came around to Puruzi’s chair and said,” Aviachi, Farm Boy”  
“No” Puruzi turned away from him, back stiff.  
“It’ll help.” Azy got down slowly in front of him, hands in front, knees tucked under, bowing a little. “I said no!” Puruzi stood up abruptly, the chair clattering away from the table. Cassie didn’t see Azy move, it seemed to her that one second he was on the floor and the next, and he had crossed the room and had Puruzi up against the wall, an arm across his throat, holding him there.  
“Boys!” Cassie found herself standing, although what she thought she’d do wasn’t clear to her. Azy wasn’t choking the other man, he was simply holding him still. Before she could decide, Puruzi sagged, and Azy guided him down, gathering him close.  
“I frecking can’t….” Puruzi’s voice was muffled, but whether that was with tears or because he was pressed into Azy, Cassie couldn’t tell.  
“I know, Blue Eyes.” Azy rubbed his back and seemed to notice Cassie as if for the first time. “Give us a minute, love?”  
“Alright” she moved out of the living space back into the bedroom. After a moment, Azy came to join her, his face somber.  
“Is he alright?”  
“He’s fine now. Sometimes it just hits him. I mean Goodness, he was only a child.”  
“Did they really teach him all those things he said?” You were even younger. What have you done that you’re not telling me?  
“I think so. And maybe worse.”  
Worse?? ”What could be worse?”  
“Think about it. Why would you make someone forget two whole years?”  
“Oh Gods, you think he killed people and they made him forget.”  
Azy’s gaze was haunted. “That would be my guess, yes.”  
“Pandora’ curse” she sat down as the full gravity of it hit her. “Can we help him?”  
“Honestly, Kitty, I don’t know”  
Author’s Note: This section contains Excepts from the poem “The Highway Man” by Alfred Noyes. No infringement is intended.  
The area was definitely tighter than it had looked on the plans, but that was always the way. Normally Cassie wouldn’t mind being squashed up against her boys, but the impracticality of running at the moment kept popping up with alarming frequency.  
“Pur! Are you sure these were the correct plans?” Gods, what an echo. Nice work, Cass. Get your new crew killed on your first job together.  
“Yes.” Puruzi shifted along her left side, reaching up towards her breast.  
Really, now?  
“You’re blocking the access hatch, ducks.” Azy’s voice, still dryly amused, which reassured her a little.  
“Oi! Cassie!” She stopped climbing out at his hiss.  
“Go that way”, Azy pointed. She obeyed, then rounding a corner, found herself in a ballroom. All eyes turned to her, for she had somehow entered near the front.  
Oh Gods. She closed her eyes, reached out for the spirt of the place, anything to distract. She found it floating, dark mahogany and the beginnings of a tale in it.  
“The Wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees”, she began.  
In another area of the house, Azy slid the ruby off its casing, glancing at Puruzi as he did so. “With me here, Farm Boy?”  
“Yup”  
“Ok, let’s go, then”  
“And the highwayman came riding up to the old inn door.” Cassie was settling into the tale now, the narrative thrumming with pleasure to be told once more, ancient and beautiful.  
Rounding the corner, Azy stopped dead. “What in the name of Gaia?”  
“What?” Puruzi, jittery from the adrenaline, peered around him. “It’s a closet.”  
“Back up a touch, love. I think someone’s inside.” Azy tapped lightly on the door.  
“And he tapped with his whip on the shutters but all was locked and barred. He whistled a tune to the window and who should be waiting there but Bess, the landlord’s daughter”  
“Robert?” A reptilian eye was pressed to the creak in the door, clearly frightened.  
“Nope, wrong code, love. Who’s this Robert fellow, then? Did he do this to you?”  
“No. The men did, the ones outside.”  
“You know”, Puruzi put in, “The ones we were escaping from.”  
“Have you got a gun, they took them all”  
“Watch for me by the moonlight. I’ll come to thee by moonlight though hell should bar the way”  
“Course!” Azy unstrapped one of the pistols off his belt and after jimmying the lock, handed the creature a gun. She emerged timidly, a grey hominoid lizard, with purple eyes, flicking the membranes over her eyes rapidly.  
“Come on, Bess” Azy caught at her arm, insistent. She turned to him, startled. “I’m not Bess”  
“I-I’m sorry I don’t know why I...“  
“Azy” Puruzi’s hiss. “What are you doing, who is that?”  
“It’s-it’s-“  
Kaylle” Supplied the creature with a smile. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I called you Robert. We haven’t met, have we? I feel as if I’d known you all my days” 

“The Redcoat troops came marching up to the old inn door”  
An incessant banging made all three heads swivel up. “Dammit, Azy!”  
Azy turned to Kaylle. “Later, yeah, come on we can’t just leave you to die”

“They said no word to the landlord, they drank his ale instead. But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed, “

Kaylle’s limbs were shaking as she tried to load the pistol and Azy caught her hand gently. “Easy, sweets. What did they do to you?”  
“They tied me up, got into my head. I couldn’t go out, I was feeling worthless. I had to live as they said, though it was against all I believed in, all that my people are.” The membrane clicked over her eyes, liquid blinked back, hard. “This is a beautiful gun”, Azy smiled. “Ta. Can you use it?”  
“If I have to. My race is not violent.” She lifted her head higher and embedded in the grey scales was a gold spiked collar.  
“Bastards!” Azy found back a rush of both nausea and rage. “Pur. Look! I thought slavery was extinct”  
Puruzi furrowed his brow. “Guess not. You stay with us, sweetheart. We’ll get you out.” 

When they rounded the corner, Cassie was not surprised to see them, for she had seen them before they came, like a reflection of a ship at sea, as themselves, and as the last bodies their souls had housed.  
“still on a winter’s night they say when the wind is in the trees and the moon is a ghostly gallon tossed upon the cloudy seas, when the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, the highway man comes riding, riding. The highway man comes riding up to the old inn door”

 

Cassie emerged the next morning, stretching pleasant aches from her body, taking in the full breakfast laid out and the gleaming rooms.  
“Boys?” she called. A shuffling came from the bedroom area and they emerged, a strange mix of owl eyes and tense limbs, their bodies have woken up before their minds quite had.  
“Cass...“Pur began, and then took in the sight as she had. “Wow. If this is your way of saying give me more orgasms, I accept the challenge”  
She laughed. “Thank you, but this wasn’t me”  
Azy blinked. “Freck. I need kalfa, none of this is making any sense”  
“Can I come out, now?” Kaylle slunk into view, her eyes downcast. “Are my masters pleased?” She bowed low before all three.  
“Sweet Goddesses, give me grace...“Azy made a beeline for the kalfa machine. Puruzi and Cassie meanwhile knelt down as one. “We aren’t your masters”, says Cassie, reaching out to touch the lizard’s shoulder. She was hot and smooth to the touch, almost too hot for Cassie’s human hand. “Pur, I think she’s ill.”  
“Sheila” Puruzi barked, standing up, “diagnose high fever in a...“ He paused. “Sorry, honey. Who are you?”  
I’m Kaylle.”  
“No, he means...“ Cassie winced at the faux pax she was about to commit, “What species are you?”  
“Oh. I’m a Histerian.”  
“A Histerian” finished Puruzi.  
There was a beep, and Shelia said “Ar-1926. Retrovirus. Treatable if taken to a moon center as soon as possible. Non-communicable to humans and…. Bastlids.”  
‘Oh good” Cassie stood up. “Come on, we have to get her to the nearest center.”  
“Wait.” Azy was back, kalfa cup in hand, now empty. He placed it on the floor and knelt down next to Kaylle. “Let’s get this off you, love.”  
“My masters...”  
“Freck your masters, yeah? You don’t belong to anyone but yourself”  
She met his eyes for the first time a small smile on her face. “Thank you”  
“Course” Azy got up and motioned Puruzi over. “Have a look, Farm Boy”  
“It’s screwed down” Puruzi gazed at it a second and went back into the bedroom. Kaylle moaned faintly, and Azy moved to her side to cradle her “you’re gonna be ok, love”  
“Pur, hurry up” Cassie called.  
Puruzi came out with his mobile toolbox, and settled next to Kaylle. “Hold still, ok?” was his only comment. They all sat silent and still until Puruzi said, “There” and eased the collar off. It left deep cuts in her smooth grey hide.  
“We should patch her up” Puruzi made as if to rise.  
“There’s no time we have to get her to the center before she gets worse”  
“Cass is right” Azy stood up. “Pur, find us a med-vic yeah?”  
“Yes sir” Puruzi mock saluted him and ran out the door.  
Cassandra stared after him. “He’s just going to hot-hack a vehicle?”  
Azy blinked at her, nonplussed. “Yes...”  
“He really can do anything, can’t he?”  
This time Azy grinned. “Yes, he can!”  
As if on cue, Puruzi dashed back through the door, panting slightly. “Way too easy. They oughta have better security-ware on those things.” He mock-bowed to the others. “Your... er... spaceship awaits.”  
“Bloody hilarious, Farm Boy.”  
“Hey, I was just trying to... oh never mind.”

 

She found herself doing this more and more often these days, sitting in the dark, ignoring Sheila’s gentle prompts to turn on lights. For an AI, she was surprisingly intuitive. Cassie suspected Puruzi had been tinkering with her. But she declined, the dark suited her mood.  
“Cass?” The two voices resounded in unison with concern as she turned over the tarot cards she held in her hands, Trickster in her right, Shadow in her left. Ha very funny, cards.  
“Hello, boys”  
“What is it?” Puruzi crossed in front to crouch and look up at her his favorite “I’m not threating, look” posture.  
“This job is giving me the heebie-jeebies.” there I said it.  
“What, the Teigr job? Really?” Cassie wondered again looking at him how someone with a smile like that could be such a fantastic confidence man.  
“What are these?” Azy was gathering up the projecto-cards, fingers swift, making them stutter as he went through one or two, carelessly.  
“They’re Tarot.”  
“What?”  
“It’s a way to see the future,” she flushed a little, knowing how deeply archaic that must sound.  
“Oh.” Azy nodded and she extended her hand for the cards. They floated above her hand and reshuffled themselves. They were coded to her unique genetics, they wouldn’t shuffle or lay out for any other being.  
“What can you see?” At Puruzi’s voice, she laid them out in the air above her hands. Trickster Shadow again. Death, Life. The figure of Chance as the blindfolded priestess. And Change as a waterfall that lay between the three cards. It was irreversible. But she could not say it, could not speak.  
Azy put his arms around her from behind and said, “Be at peace, Ducks” apropos of nothing, seeming to feel the storm inside her. She shook her head, knowing, but felt the tide in her mind recede nonetheless. 

 

A River of humanity. Strangely enough, she was the only non-human in the gathering. The sides of her dress, bright scarlet like a death blow, brushed the sides of the hall as she moved. The men were behind her like evil twins in suits, Azy’s white and Pur’s black. All three wore masks to symbolize their status as entertainment, strictly for the MC to taste and play with. The MC was not their mark, but she was a step closer.  
The dais was set up and she made for it, tugging on the men’ leashes.  
Cassie Pur’s voice in her head, faintly panicked.  
What is it?  
I think I’m the only man here  
We are, you mean, Blue Eyes. Azy sounded calmer, but that could be an act. He was shielding hard enough she couldn’t really tell.  
Sorry, gorgeous, us  
I told you, Bantha is a matriarchal society. She tried to bite down on her irritation, she needed a bland, professional face for this. She tugged them both into place, before turning to scrutinize them. Perfect. She unhooked each from his leash and tapped them both on the head. Kneel now. Azy flicked his eyes up as she guided him down. He had changed earrings, to match his outfit, it was white now, an angel’s wing.  
You can carry this thing, Cass, I believe in you  
She let her hands linger on the top of his head. Thank you!  
At least the twin illusion wasn’t difficult for them to carry, the pair–bond helped with that.  
“Who are you?”  
Cassie turned to see the MC, a tall blonde woman, also dressed in scarlet. She bobbed, acknowledging the others superior rank. “I’m Mary.”  
“Oh yes?” The other woman’s lips pursed slightly. Cassie snaked out a mental tendril and felt disapproval, which was very odd.  
“These are my boys.” Both Azy and Pur bowed low, exposing the backs of their necks. Cassie could feel the low hum of them on alert, it set her teeth on edge.  
“Are they a mated pair?”  
“Yes”  
“Prove it”  
“Kiss, boys” Cassie turned to face them. Two sets of blue eyes gone grey flicked up at her in response. Ask nicely  
She moved closer and hooked her fingers under Azy’s collar, yanking him closer to Puruzi “Insolence?”  
“No, Mistress” only she could detect the spark in Azy’s eyes. You know how I get when you cat-handle me  
Don’t get too comfy, we still haven’t got our mark  
Yes Mistress Puruzi this time, his voice full of mocking amusement.  
Stop joking about this isn’t funny. She felt the two of them shift from casually alert to –do we need to drop everything and shoot our way out of this- alert.  
Cass? Azy, wary.  
Something’s off, she replied.  
Fear flicked in Puruzi’s eyes, almost too fast to detect. You think they’re onto us?  
It’s a good bet, yes. How they managed to mind-speak undress each other and be on full alert all at the same time was a mystery to her. Maybe it was an ability particular to human males.  
Got anything, Farm Boy?  
I’m working on it  
Work faster. Cassie pushed down the urge to hiss and raise her back hair. She considered shifting, but in this form no one knew she was a Bastlid. Her race was inherently peaceful and therefore not obligated by intergalactic law to be on the Watch List for species. If she shifted now, she’d lose any advantage she might have. She knew this intellectually, but the urge was still there, like an itch  
“Excuse me, Miss Mary?”  
“Yes?” The woman turned around as Cassie unsheathed her claws. Her body screamed its protest as the claws broke through her finger’s skin, she was not meant to have them in this form. But shifting completely, rapid though it was, would have lost her seconds. She lashed out, and the woman fell gurgling pink as the poison in Cass’s claws interacted with her blood.  
Go!  
“Holy Isis” Azy had stood up and spoken aloud.  
“Move!” Puruzi was already on the other side of the room looking for an exit. “I’m gonna try and interface with the main computer, see if I can get us out.”  
Azy gripped her wrist, her claws were still unsheathed. “Are you all right?”  
“I will be, once I shift” she did so, and her claws slid back into their sheaths, her skin healing. Azy grinned at her. “If we had the time, I’d have you against the nearest wall.”  
“I’d have you back but Vera’d be jealous.”  
“She’d get over it!” He grinned down at the sword in question.  
“Come on!” Puruzi was tugging at them. He had managed to pull up the plans on the room’s consul.  
“Where are the guards?” Azy was business-like again.  
“That’s what tipped me off” Cassie moved closer to the two of them “They ought to be seeing no one gets in without a chip.”  
“The whole frecking thing is a set-up. How did that happen? We checked!”  
“Hang on” Puruzi’s fingers flew over the keys “there’s wrong code here, we just didn’t dig deep enough”  
Azy swore. “That was...” He cut himself off. “We’re wasting time. We have to move or...” There was a bang that cut off the rest of his words. Cassie turned to see guards belatedly pouring into the room. Someone outside must have tipped the blacklist alarm.  
“They aren’t coming for us” She gestured to the dead woman. “They’re coming for her.”  
“I know that, Cass, but...“Azy moved away from the computer as he spoke, only to run into Puruzi’s laser gun.  
“Where the freck was that?” Puruzi gestured vaguely, but not vaguely enough. Cassie rolled her eyes.  
“Again? Other people touch that, you know. If you’re bored with the dildo collection, you just had to say.”  
“No one ever checks.”  
“Yeah, they can’t see past your head. And what would you have done if we’d had to fuck?”  
“Boys!” Cassie had retrieved their trousers in the interim. “Do this when we're not, I don’t know, about to die?”  
“She’s got a point. I got the rear!” He smirked. “So to speak.”  
Cassie rolled her eyes, then as she passed him, she said sotto voce, “Really?”  
Puruzi shrugged. “I don’t know what he’s complaining about, it’s not like his tongue doesn’t go up there.”  
“Maybe my tongue is insulted.”  
“Maybe your tongue should work harder”  
“Pandora help me, if we get out of here alive, I’m tying you both up in separate rooms for a month”  
She ignored the simultaneous “oooo”s from behind her. Trying to shake the distinct impression she was herding space monkeys, she managed to get them all out of the building.  
“Now what?” Azy turned his pockets out. “We’ve got no money”  
Puruzi grinned at him and turned to Cassie “Off to Vegas Galaxy, for us then”

“Hello and welcome, ladies gents and everything in between! This is WJ Markas here, coming at you live for 3-new Zion! This isn’t the city you remember from the old book tales beings, oh no. this is a party place! And to get the party started, here’s a new one from the Phantom Sentient!”  
“Heh. Listen, Pur, my love, they’re playing our song”  
“It’s Jason here, remember? Also why did you get to be front man?” Puruzi was most definitely pouting, although this might have had less to do with the argument and more to do with the blueish silver collar around his neck.  
“What?” Azy’s grin was ever so slightly psychotic. “We were flat broke, I made us money. I did ask. You said you couldn’t sing.”  
“I can’t. But being your love slave was not what I had in mind.”  
“Poor baby” Definitely psychotic now. “You get to have one of the most gorgeous blokes in the thousand worlds as your lover and you’re complaining.”  
Puruzi snorted, “Who said that? I didn’t.”  
“Zion-3 city mag” said Cassie and turned the projecto-reader so he could see.  
“Oh they have a mag? We could do an interview, Farm Boy.”  
“How do you know you’re not on cam right now?” Cassie, as usual, had cast herself as the voice of reason.  
“It was part of “Adam’s” contract. Besides which, he dropped his voice, “if I weren’t great at finding bugs around me, I’d be dead.”

 

Concerts hadn’t really changed that much over the millennia. The music like a pulse, like a heartbeat, thrumming through Cassie’s veins. Azy, up on stage was in his element. Just a con she cautioned him, but he was too far gone to hear, feeding off the controlled chaos on stage.  
She touched Puruzi’s mind with her own, a mental tap on the shoulder.  
Hey, Cass. He sounded tired.  
Are you alright? She sent concern down the link.  
Didn’t sleep. I’m having the dream about Grey almost every night now.  
Who’s Grey?  
My brother. The one that I lost. My fault. His hiss was ferocious, even through the link, part rage, and part pain. You were a child, Puruzi but it was no use. The thing was immoveable. It sat, squatting like a toad in his mind, malignant and unmerciful.  
That night was the first time she watched them play out a ritual like this, Azy flicking the blade out like it’s an extension of his arm, and she feels as though it might just be, in some strange way, he’s a knife himself, really.  
“Home” Puruzi said, and Cassie looked around until she realized he was speaking his safe word to Azeban.  
“Say it again” Azy held the knife so that it glinted.  
“Home” said Puruzi clearly, quietly. He was gazing at the other man with something like peace and something like love.  
“Good...”  
Puruzi strained to hold still, not because he feared Azy would cut him, (no one was better with a knife than Azy, if you got cut, he meant to cut you) but because it was part of the ritual.  
“Be still” Azy growled, low and dangerous in his ear, and Puruzi strained to feel the blade, cool like ice against his skin, shivering at nothing.  
“You were only 12” with his words, Azy let him feel the flat of the blade against his side, and Pur shuddered in pleasure.  
“I promised my father…“ That earned him a slap, on the place where the knife had been. He yelped, reaching out, but Azy was resolutely ignoring the connection.  
“You were a scared child.” Reasonable tone, thought Azy, like reading a manual. He was running has hands over Puruzi’s skin, such familiar landscape under his hands. Come on, love. Trust me. Let go and he felt Puruzi lean into the touch, Good. Good boy.  
“Good boy” he said it aloud and felt Pur shiver with delight.  
“If it helps, you can apologize.”  
“I’m sorry, Grey. I’m so sorry.” Talking about Grey always makes Puruzi cry.  
“He knows you’re sorry.” Up Pur’s back to his neck and down again. Light stroking, not to tease, as would usually have been the case, but careful touch. The knife lay, almost breathing near his fingers.  
“How?” the anger crept back in to Puruzi’s voice, and Azy dug his fingernails in until Puruzi regulated his breathing back to calm. Then Azy stroked him again, down his back and across. Normally he’d be teasing the cleft now, but this isn’t about sex, not yet, and any pain unless used as punishment is to be avoided at all costs.  
“You couldn’t have known they wouldn’t find you. Grey could have been the one hiding. It was a trick of Fate, that’s all.” Azy was shaking with the effort of holding himself still and calm. To be still like this was against his very nature. But he loved his farm boy, his gorgeous partner and this was what Puruzi needed.  
“Maybe that’s my whole Gods-be-dammed life. A trick of Fate”  
Azy searched for something to say but the truth was his own life might just be such a trick too. He took a deep breath. “We never would have met, Blue eyes.” There. He said it.  
A terrible pause, and then, Azy felt Pur’s indrawn breath before he heard it, one had flat against his partner’s chest. “True.”  
Azy felt his own breath blow out, he hadn’t realized he’d been holding it. “It isn’t your fault.” He held his breath again. This was the crux. If Puruzi didn’t yield to this he would have to make him, for both their sakes and Azy wasn’t sure if he had the will or the bodily strength.  
“No” said Puruzi and he sounded near tears again. “It’s not.”  
Azy, hearing this, got off the bed and grabbed the sheath from the bedside table. He held it up to make sure Puruzi could hear the sound of the knife sliding into its seethe, then put it back on the table. He climbed back onto the bed with Puruzi, reaching out slowly and pulled off the blindfold, revealing Puruzi’s reddened eyes.  
“Oh Goddess. Come here, love” Azy pulled him close, cradling him. “I’ve got ya, it’s ok.”  
After a long moment, Puruzi raised his head. “Thank you!”  
Azy grasped his head in both hands and kissed him deeply. “Always.”

 

“Cassie’s turn to pick” Puruzi sounded even jauntier than usual. Whether or not this had anything to do with the latest death sentence having ended in a smaller death than anticipated, was anyone’s guess. Cassie tried not to let this amuse her and knew she was utterly failing.  
“Set a course for Selina”  
Puruzi clicked the coordinates into the computer and looked back at her, eyebrow raised. “That’s all the way in Sector 97”  
“I know where it is” she took a deep breath, “It’s my home planet”  
“My people, my race is a Seeing race” Cassie began. She caught both their eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “What?”  
“We were just listening, ducks” and Puruzi nodded as well.  
“When I was 19 summers, I got called to the temple in the middle of our capital city. This happens to all Bastlid at some point in their younger years. We call it the Seeing Ceremony. A card is pulled and the card you get corresponds to your role in life”  
“Sounds restrictive” commented Azy.  
“It’s not supposed to be. Each card is linked to the individual’s genetic signature, like my deck is. So theoretically, everyone should be doing the jobs they are genetically best suited for.”  
“But...“ Puruzi prompted, eyes on her.  
Cassie sighed, “But sometimes there’s a glitch in the system. Like me I got up on the platform, heart flying, it was beating so hard. The Tester pulled up the Card and it was a monkey.”  
“Huh?” from both  
“A trickster figure” she explained, swallowing hard, remembering the shocked hissing that ran through the crowd when it saw the card. She blinked hard but when she looked up, there they were. The boys were taking her more seriously than she’d ever seen them take anything. They weren’t making jibs or fighting or flirting they were sitting like children at lessons, looking at her.  
“It marked me as an outcast. My kind, we are seers. To play tricks or deceive is considered, like murder to your kind, an act that makes you a pariah”  
“So you left home” Puruzi, quite. She nodded. “That reading, it broke something deep in me in my society, we are bound to each other it is unspeakable to leave”  
“Your friend” Puruzi looked thoughtful. “The one I heard you call. She thought you could go back”  
“I can’t”  
“But you are!”  
“Now, yes. I have to, I found you boys for a purpose, and the problem is I don’t know what yet. That’s why I must risk going back”  
Breath in, breath out. Cassie did her very best to calm herself. The Mainframe Temple was on the largest street, if she could just get there. She was wearing the long white dress and white cloak that signified her as young but not a cub. Children wore yellow then after their seeing put on white. After mid-life male and female wore blue. But only the Mainframe’s Speaker wore grey.  
Grey. Like Puruzi’s lost brother. She wondered if this was prophetic, then pushed the thought away. Turning into the temple, she paused, then moved into the entry way and removed her hood.  
“Supplicant” the voice rang out and she barely controlled her flinch. “State your name and reason for entry”  
“Cassandra Slinee. I am Twice-seen”  
“You are an outcast”  
“Please!” Cassie’s cracked voice was painful even to her. “I must know if I see truly. Two other lives depend on it”  
“Why do they not seek the Temple for themselves?”  
“They cannot enter. They are not Bastlid, they are human men”  
A pause, then “you would seek their fate? Why?”  
“I love them”  
A second pause. “The one in blue, there is something not right about him, he is… wrong somehow and the change happens soon on his timeline.”  
“I know.” oh Pur, what’s going to happen to you?  
She faced the wall, knowing she could be seen. “He is chosen. Ever since he was very young, but his life is his own choice” She smiled to think of Puruzi, brave arrogant, but sweet and gifted. Puruzi throwing away his status as favored son of his people to grift across worlds wild and free. Her people would never understand this.  
After a few more agonizing moments, the voice said, “you may see the Mainframe” and the door slid open and Cassie walked through.  
The Mainframe Temple was high and vaulted, like an Ancient Earth church. It was also a deep crimson color. Cassie made her way up to the platform. The Mainframe was standing as it always had.  
Cassie bowed. “Mainframe.”  
“Speak, Supplicant.”  
“I ask a Seeing for Puruzi G-1.”  
“Place of origin?” there were zapping sounds as the Mainframe accessed its data storage.  
“The Boshane Peninsula.”  
“Ah yes. The Speaker said this was an odd one. The young human you are asking for, there is a strange light around him.”  
“I know that. I must know in more detail.”  
The Mainframe turned and it was unnerving to feel it looking at her, as it had no eyes, per say.  
“You are an outcast, Supplicant. Why should I impart such knowledge as I have to you?”  
Cassie’s irritation was like a flash flood. She wanted nothing more for a split second to be away from the gaze of the thing, lying beside Azy and Pur, listening to them breathe.  
“I’m aware of my Gods-be dammed status. I must know!”  
“The refusal of the Return”, intoned the Mainframe. “He is moving backwards...  
“Shhhh” said a second voice, and it was young enough that Cassie opened her eyes in surprise.  
An Old Earth girl was standing there at the platform next to the Mainframe. “How did you...“  
“You’re talking about Captain Jack Harkness”, the girl looked down at Cassie calmly. “At least that’s what he’s called in my time.”  
“What happens to him?” She was ignoring the Mainframe completely now. “And who are you?”  
“He is Trickster” said the girl. “He falls in love with his very soul, falls in love enough to die for the girl and the lonely god. In his new goodness, the Goddess will grant him a boon. This boon will change him. It will make him a hero.” As she spoke Cassie saw for just an instant, a man in a 1940s greatcoat, sitting hunched against a wall.  
Oh Gods, Puruzi She focused on the girl again “I felt this!”  
“You did”, the girl smiled. “I will tell him that I saw you, Cassandra. Next time we meet.”  
“He seeks you?”  
The girl looked at Cassie and her eyes were filled with something ancient and terrifying Cassie had no name for. “No. But I seek him, he must be watched.”  
“By whom?” said Cassie, but the girl was gone.

Home was its usual chaos and Cassie found this oddly comforting. She grabbed Puruzi as he ran past her, wrapping herself around him.  
“Hey! Cass!” he kissed her soundly. “Come into the other room. Azy’s got a retrovirus. I told him not to have sex with that Andild, he looked shifty to me but would he listen? No. so now he’s marathoning Bikini Cops and won’t move or give up the Projecto-control”  
Cassie took a moment to process this as she was contemplating the irony of a con man saying someone else looked shifty. Particularly when it happened to be a second con man.  
“What in Pandora’s name is Bikini Cops?” She followed Pur anyway.  
“Best thing in the bloody universes,” slurred Azy from his place on the sofa. He looked normal, apart from a greenish tinge.  
“Its crap,” Puruzi countered.  
“I’ll judge for myself,” and she sat, grinning at Azy who smiled back at her.  
“You’ll regret it,” but she noted Puruzi made no attempt to move away.  
She did, as it turned out, regret it, but by then it was too late and she was already hooked by the story of a team of people who investigated aliens on Old Earth. There was the obligatory office girl and her charming boss, with whom she had a romance of course, and the “normal” boy with his wife and son. And of course the kid from Mars, who, Cassie felt she needed to point out did not speak Martian.  
“What’s your point?”  
“He doesn’t need to be from Mars! They’re just trying to fill quotas! The mythology has no cohesion, we know nothing about the main character’s backstory, and that stupid nurse keeps resurrecting every couple episodes!”  
“But there’s lots of sex” said Azy.  
“That’s true.”  
They watched straight through a day and night cycle, despite Puruzi nearly blasting the projecto-screen with his laser. (He was tinkering while he watched, pretending he wasn’t. No one was fooled.) Azy’s wriststrap which was broadcasting the show, also had an irritating habit of beeping every hour if not attached to his body. (“It thinks it’s lost” Azy explained.) They finally solved this by Azy wrapping it around his ankle and tilting his foot at the screen.  
Cassie woke up at some point, groggy and gasping a little under Puruzi’s weight. She shoved harder than she’d meant to, and he fell off the sofa with a loud and oddly satisfying thud.  
“Ow!” he sat up on the floor, blinking at her.  
“Sorry” she peered over the edge at him.  
“S’ok, sweetheart. M’ not really awake” he began to crawl back over her and Cassie put a hand on his chest. He blinked at her again, waking up further. “Cass?”  
“Please” she said. He smiled at her and stood. “Should I wake City slut or is this a private party?”  
“Wake him, please. If it’s safe to have sex with him.”  
“Hang on, I’ll scan him.”  
“That thing has an STI scanner built into it?”  
“Mine does” he flashed her one of those grins, all teeth no substance.  
The strap beeped. “He’s safe, it’s a quick virus, about 24 Earth hours.”  
“Probably because it’s not a mutated human one.”  
“Uhhuh. So to answer your question, he’s safe. Well, in that sense anyway” He straddled Azy’s hips and looked down at him sardonically. “Some days I don’t know whether to kiss him or hit him.”  
“Kissing’s more fun.”  
He grinned at her, “Clearly you’ve never fought properly.”  
“Cultural bias.”  
“Who? Me or you?”  
“Both” She draped herself over his back and he bumped his head against her affectionately, then bent down and kissed Azy “Wakey, wakey Sleeping Ugly.”  
Azy opened his eyes smiling lazily. “Think I was dreaming about this very thing.”  
“Flattery will get you the red ball gag and the whip, but obeying Cass will get you your every whim.”  
“Oh?” he shifted his gaze to Cassie, who had moved over to the sofa’s front. “Tell me a story, my Kitty. Tell me a story with your teeth and your tongue and your hips.”  
She tugged him to his feet, Puruzi swinging a leg over him and going to stand to the side, and embraced him, full body. Nothing else yet, just standing, feeling the in and out of their combined breathing, like a drum beat.  
“Mm” Azy’s hum was low and contented. Puruzi moved around to hold them both and she was grateful she hadn’t had to explain. She lifted her head and Azy met her eyes.  
“Whatever’s written in your head, love, show me on your body.”  
Normally she disliked missionary for the same reason a human woman might, but Azy was skilled at it, and she needed to feel how solid he was over her. Somehow his gaze helped.  
She opened the links fully, like a throttle thrown full blast, and Azy twisted his hips brushing over her. She arched, asking and he responded by kissing her hard, enough to bleed.  
What did you see?  
She closed her eyes as he glided over her again and her hips jumped I can’t tell you  
Course you can, ducks. A nibble at her ear, a well-timed slick of heat against her neck. Puruzi.  
I can’t not now, Please just be with me.  
I can do that, I’m gonna white out your mind for a bit. I promise you’ll feel better when I’m done.  
Please, mind speak was easier.  
“Pur?”  
“Yup?”  
“Help me, please.”  
Puruzi hesitated only a second before swinging his leg over to straddle her face, careful not to put his weight down. She hadn’t realized that was what she’d wanted until she heard Azy speak, but now she arched towards Puruzi wanting the salt and the feeling of his pulse against her tongue. With a few pillows, they got everything adjusted and she stopped thinking about anything other than the taste of Puruzi’s heat against her tongue and Azy’s lips in the wet of her. For an instant her brain blanked on itself but it was enough for her to grasp onto the rope of sanity. 

“Tell me what you saw,” came Azy’s voice, sleepy but insistent.  
“I can’t I truly can’t.”  
She could see his thoughtful expression. “Why?”  
“Lots of reasons, but the most important one being I can’t change events.”  
He laughed. “Silly ducks, you can always change time.”  
“Sometimes things are fixed, Azy” But she couldn’t say any more.  
She dreamt of blood and fire that night, and woke up, a scream lodged like a butterfly in her throat. She was halfway out of the hotel when she realized it wasn’t a dream. She found Puruzi crouched several blocks away, tears and greenish soot streaking his face in weird patterns.  
“Pur?” she knelt down and had to yell over the fire-ship’s drone, “Where is Azy?”  
“I have no Gods-be dammed idea.”  
“What?”  
“We had a fight, a real one. He kicked me out of his head and his life.” She realized now he was crying more from anger than anything else.  
“”You can’t do that, the pair-bond’s unbreakable.”  
“Yes but we can chose to not use it. I can’t hear him, Cass.”  
“Pandora’s box” This was extremely bad. “Puruzi, we have to find him”  
“No. he can go fend for himself for all the frecks I give.”  
“Oh for the love of...“ Cassie yanked him to his feet. “Stop acting like a petulant child! You reach out and you find him.”  
He glowered at her. “Why?”  
“Because if you don’t, innocents are going to die.”

He was at home, but it wasn’t right, the streets of Piccadilly had never been so bright, the colors so intense, the edges of everything painfully sharp. He looked down and realized he was young, 8 or so.  
What in the bloody...  
“Azy!” a shout in a young man’s voice, creaking on the edges, “Azy, where are you?”  
He ran towards it not quite knowing why but being pulled to it none the less by an impulse so strong it nearly knocked him down.  
“I’m ‘ere!” Gods he’d lost that accent so long ago “I’m ‘ere, where are you?”  
The running and voice got closer and then a young boy rounded the corner  
“Oh Gods! Azy!”  
Azeban backed up, wary. “Who are you?” The boy was 11 or 12 with a curly mop of brown hair, and blue eyes dressed in white.  
“It’s me, Azy. It’s Puruzi”  
Puruzi. That name stirred something.  
“Azy. Come on, link with me here” The boy was staring at his face  
“I know you” Azy finally answered. And he did, somehow.  
The boy’s face lit up with a smile so bright Azy almost wanted to cover his eyes. “That’s right. It’s Puruzi”  
“Pur!” and as he threw himself into the other boy’s hug, everything changed.

The stench of copper was overwhelming and as he blinked his eyes open, Azy was disoriented for a split second. His arms were red up to the elbows and Vera was by his side, her blade crusted and dark brown.  
Holy Goddesses. What in the...  
A noise made him turn and there was Cassie and Pur standing in the warehouse doorway, looking at him.  
“Get out” was the first thing Azy said. The rasp of his raw throat sounded so painful that Puruzi had a twinge in his own. Azy stumbled to his feet and lurched towards them, his blood covered arms making him look absurdly like an old Earth zombie.  
“Out. I said. There might be more of them!”  
Oh Gods. It hit Puruzi like a punch in the gut. He doesn’t know he’s done this.  
He moved forward, grabbing Azy by the shoulders. “Azy, come here.”  
“We have to...“Azeban sagged, clearly at the end of his strength.  
“It’s ok, Azy, we’ve got them all, we’re going home.”  
Cassie was glad they hadn’t had to drug Azy. The second they’d booked into a new hotel, he’d retreated into the bedroom area with his fireball, saying he wanted to sleep. As soon as the door was closed behind him, Puruzi turned on her.  
“What in the name of all the gods was that?” His anger was spark-like, leaving stinging lines on her face. She looked at him and thought this man is capable of killing strangers, just because. It had never hit her so hard before. Puruzi, with his Trickster’s smile, could kill without regret.  
That should frighten me more than it does. “I warned you.”  
His arms flew up in a gesture of helplessness. “You knew this would happen?”  
“Yes.”  
“How?”  
“The mainframe told me. Along with other things that aren’t relevant at the moment.”  
She had always thought blazing eyes were a metaphor until this very second. If Puruzi’s eyes had been a wick, they couldn’t have blazed brighter. “By all the dammed Gods, Cassie, what do you know? One more chance.”  
She twitched, her claws itching to unsheathe. “Don’t you threaten me.”  
“Watch me!”  
“Stop it! Both of you!” They turned at Azy’s voice to see him learning against the door pointing a gun in the general vicinity of both of them. There was a click and the AI said, “Unauthorized gun use detected.” It had a pleasant generic male voice. It made Cassie long for Sheila.  
Azy shot the control panel. “You have no idea how not in the mood for authority I am right now!”  
“Well to be fair, you never are” Puruzi moved around behind him, clearly trying to take the gun.  
Azy spun, too quickly for him. “Back up, Puruzi.”  
Cassie’s claws twitched again. She said, “Azy...” And let it trail off.  
“You!” His voice was still his own, the snake in the intergalactic garden. But there was sadness too, that hadn’t been there before. “Tell me what you know or I’ll shoot both of you and leave you to die.”  
“Azy...“  
Azeban cocked the gun and pointed it at Cassie’s leg. “Your choice.”  
“Azy, this isn’t you” Puruzi had switched sides and was now slowly moving in from the left, his hands still raised.  
Azy laughed. It was an awful sound, a low chuckle like a small earthquake. It said damaged as clearly as if it had spoken. “Who am I, Puruzi? Hmm? I did the bloody math while I was back there 'sleeping', played back the projecto-vids on my strap, I killed all those people, but I can’t remember it.”  
He paused, shifted on his feet. “Which is sort of sad, really, cuz I was on fire! They would have clapped for me only they couldn’t because they were FRACKING DEAD!” Even screaming, his gun hand didn’t waver, Cassie noted with the detachment that seems to come to one in a crisis.  
“Azy,” she knew she had to speak because this wasn’t how it ended. “Put the gun down and sit, please.” To her surprise he obeyed and she saw how white his knuckles had been. Fear. He’s afraid. But pity wasn’t going to be helpful in this instant, he needed facts, not emotion.  
“You were part of something referred to in the Mainframe’s archives only as the Lost Child Project.” She kept her eyes on his face this was a man she’d loved and trusted. This beautiful damaged chaotic man. A man she had seen kiss with tenderness and fuck with joy, and kill, it was true with glee. But never anyone who hadn’t attacked him first. Never innocents before.  
“The Lost Child Project was as far as I can tell an attempt to create hive mind, one of the first. Street children were used. 14 years ago. That would have made you around 8 or so, right?” At his nod she went on: “the experiment was a tremendous failure. It made all the children who participated violently psychopathic, prone to murder and...“  
“Blackouts,” said Azy.  
“Yes and blackouts.”  
“Hang on so you’re saying the government messed about in my head?”  
“Not the government, the Time Agency.”  
“That’s impossible I wasn’t recruited till I was 15. They wouldn’t...“  
“Azy.” Pur, who up till then had been sitting quietly near him, stood up face white. “They took two years of my life out of my head. I wouldn’t put what Cass is saying past them.”  
“My guess” said Cassie into the silence that followed, “is that they are keeping tabs on all 26 beings that participated.”  
“26? There are 26 beings like Azy running around?”  
“No most of them are dead or in prisons on distant worlds, according to the archive. Azy is one of the few left on the outside.”  
“Why has this never happened to me before?”  
She looked at Puruzi “Because of Pur.”  
Puruzi stared at her. “Me?”  
She wanted to shake him. “Didn’t you ever wonder why you were the only one who could ever control him?”  
“You’re saying Farm Boy is the reason I’m sane?”  
“No. Technically, the pair-bond is the reason you’re sane. So if that bond is broken by anything or either of you, it results in Azy’s 'alter' being triggered.”  
There was a pause and then Azy turned to Pur and grinned. “And we never even said vows, gorgeous.”  
“It’s ok, you’ll always be my favorite wife.”  
“I could not possibly beat out that one in Luvila, the one with the tongue thing.”  
“Well, no but she was more of a civil partnership type deal.”  
Cassie stared. “Are the two of you serious?”  
They looked at her. “Sorry ducks. Anything else?”  
Cassie had the distinct impression that someone had wacked her over the head and somehow she hadn’t noticed. “We need to talk about this.”  
“Why?” in unison.  
“Because-because-“ Gods some days… She addressed herself to Puruzi. “Doesn’t this bother you?”  
“No. Look, it doesn’t bother me because I always knew City Slut was a crazy sword happy moron.”  
“It’s a katana, for your information.”  
The poleaxed feeling was getting stronger. “So you’re saying nothing changed for you.”  
Puruzi grinned. “Exactly. I always knew he was capable of killing me in my sleep. This just confirms it.”  
“Oh baby.” Azy had his I’m-playing-with-you purr in his voice now. “If I kill you, you’re going to be wide awake and fighting.”  
“I know.”  
Cassie’s brain informed her it had just heard a declaration of love than checked out of the conversation. 

“That one. Over there.”  
Azy shifted his attention. The club was full of lights and sounds and everyone’s pheromones were mixing together. It was messing with his subconscious, he wanted yams all of a sudden, as a girl wandered by. He focused with an effort.  
“Who?”  
“Him” Azy followed the other man’s nudge and saw a young man dancing the light gleamed on the bar code like tattoo on the back of his neck.  
“Holy... Farm boy, his bleedin’ recruitment tattoo’s still wet!”  
“I know. Quick let’s grab him before he ships out.”  
Azy laughed aloud, adoring him. “You gorgeous thing.”  
“Husband.”  
“That’s not what you said last night.”  
Puruzi twisted away and dashed off to get a better angle on the young man. Azy approached him from the other side, moving more slowly. The man had settled into a rhythm now. Azy sensed Pur standing on the other side of the man.  
Stay there  
Yup  
The man looked up and smiled. “Hi.”  
“Hey” Azy pitched his voice just a touch lower a touch of smoke and velvet, like a layer of paint. Not that it was needed. The look on the man’s face said clearly, come and get me this was all just part of the game.  
Azy focused in on the man’s face. He had purple eyes, that, as far as Azy could tell weren’t contacts. Alien blood or a Taylor bio-upgrade, he wasn’t sure which. “What’s your name then?”  
“Branth” said the man.  
“I’m Azeban and this is Puruzi.”  
“Nice to meet you” It was too crowded for Puruzi to bow but he ducked his head.  
“Nice to meet you” Branth smiled hugely and his eyes said take me home.

“These are the things they won’t tell you when you ship out. Firstly, you will vomit the first time you kill. Nothin’ wrong with that my lovely, shows you’re still human. Just wipe your mouth and get on. They all did it, your officers and your mates. At some point they were young and blue, and they looked Death in her eyes for the first time and lost a piece of themselves. The vomiting’s just a symptom.” Azy bent to rest his forehead on Branth’s. “That’s nice, sweet, keep doing that.”  
“The second thing they won’t tell you is the fact that your C.O. doesn’t give a freck about you. You’re expendable to them. So that’s the deck you’ve been handed. Learn to cut the cards to your advantage. Stay alive.”  
“This night is a gift I’m giving you. One night of pleasure before you go down to the Underworld. The advice is a weapon, not a gift. Use it.”  
“The last thing is this. Find a mate who would hold you on the way Underground and not let you get away with anything. Make sure he or she can fight, too. If you find a mate like that and you keep each other alive, not only will your body make it out but your mind will too. Then they won’t have taken anything from you but time.”  
It was during the second round of sex that Azy felt Cass slip into his mind.  
Hello ducks. Joining?  
Not now, no. nice speech. Does he know you’re a liar?  
I’m not lying. Everything I said was the truth  
So you don’t always lie  
Not to a fellow soldier. Or, as it happens, to those I love.  
Five days later, Branth shipped out. Three days after that he was dead. Cassie felt him die, just a jolting instant like a camera flash, but she didn’t tell Azy. She wanted Azy to believe he’d saved the young man’s life. He had such little faith left. She’d let him believe this. 

Azy woke up, shaking and sandwiched between Cass and Pur. He thrashed uselessly for a moment until his brain clicked on and told him where he was. Calm down you idiot. He rolled out of bed, grabbed trousers only because the last time he hadn’t well, reattachment surgery’s a pain, and went down to the hotel’s basement.  
That was where Puruzi found him. “How long have you been at it?”  
“Dunno” Azy paused to wipe his brow.  
“Your strap should say, idiot.”  
“It doesn’t. It says 'I’m bigger than Farm boy’s.'”  
“That gods-be dammed joke wasn’t funny the first time.” At Azy’s failure to crack back, he softened his tone. “What it is?”  
“Nothing, I always do this.”  
“No you don’t. Don’t you think I pay attention? You never practice at this time of night.”  
Azy’s only response to this was the childish “What are you then, my mum?” He sized up the holo-model coming at him and delivered a killing sweep across its throat. Blood spurted.  
“Nice carotid artery shot.”  
Azy turned and mock-bowed. “Ta.”  
“I’m not your mum, no. but I’m allowed to be concerned so what is it?”  
Azy switched off the training program and sat down. “I’ll fix up Vera and meet you in the bedroom ‘k?”  
“You love her more.”  
“’course I do. Saves my life and doesn’t want Miso-pops at 3 am.”  
“I was having cravings!”  
“Whatever.”

Puruzi hovered nervously in the doorway. Azy looking up frowned at him “Sweet Gaia, what’s wrong with you?”  
“I swear I’ll never leave you, ok? There, I fracking said it. Voila.  
“Don’t curse at me with your backwater talk.”  
“I’m being serious, you idiot.”  
“Well. Stop. It’s putting me right off, for one thing, and for anther you don’t mean a word of it.”  
Instead of the usual jab in return it was “I’ll prove it.”  
“How are you gonna do that, then?”  
Puruzi reached into the drawer near the bedside and took out a gun which he handed to Azy. “There’s a bullet in the chamber.”  
“You and your old fashioned guns” Azy sighed and said “safety off” to the gun. It clicked in response, and Puruzi backed up to give him room.  
“What will this prove, Pur?”  
“That you aren’t the man you think you are. You can shoot me I won’t run. But you won’t. “  
“Of course I won’t I don’t feel like killing you”  
“That’s not why and you know it.”  
Azy blew air out of his lugs again and with a “Safety on” put the gun down slowly. Neither was sure who moved first, but at some point, Azy realized his partner was on top of him and hitting him repeatedly not hard blows, almost slaps. He also realized he was letting it happen.  
Wait what? He twisted with his hips got free and reversed their positions.  
“Got ya.”  
“Gods, I was wondering when you were going to make me stop.”  
“Just waiting for you to get tired.”  
“Oh, that takes a long time.”  
“Seven minutes is not a long time by any standard I’m aware of.”  
Puruzi snorted a laugh, then wiggled under Azy. “Let me help you, meliva. Please” He used the word from his home language that meant “sweetheart” and “partner” both.  
“Back world talk.” Azy was pretending to be indifferent, but it’s hard to hide interest when you’re nude.  
“Meliva. Ta vas entra va esoner.”  
“Huh?” Azy stared at him.  
“It means ‘I’d carry my beloved to the sea.’”  
“What sea?”  
“It’s a metaphor. The end of life is what it means. It’s spoken by the surviving partner when you’re telling everyone your intention to dance their ghost down.”  
“Ghost dance?”  
“So their spirt can rest, you’re a city boy. You wouldn’t understand.”  
Azy bent to brush Puruzi’s lips with his own. “I understand.”  
“Then let me help you out of your head, like you helped me.”  
Azy sat back. “How?”  
Puruzi thought for a moment, then-“Where’s your fireball?”  
Azy eyed him warily as he approached. “Are you sure you know how to use it?”  
“Yes. Now nothing out of you unless it’s what?”  
“Safe word.”  
“Good.” Puruzi circled, admiring his own handiwork. “You sure are more attentive when I tie you up. Maybe I should leave you here for Cass to find, hmm?”  
“Wouldn’t be the first time. I swear, that Guilian was deranged. Never play kinky with anything that has a hive mind.. Ow!”  
Puruzi had slapped his neck, in a place guaranteed not to arouse him. “That was not your safe word.”  
“Yessir” it came out before Azy could stop it, and Puruzi circled back in front of him. “At ease, Colonel.”  
Azy’s body tried to relax despite the restraints. Dammed muscle memory.  
Puruzi paused, and Azy could sense him thinking. “Are you thinking about fighting?”  
Azy waited to make sure he was finished, and as a reward Puruzi ran the fire ball close to his face. At the almost-touch of the blue glowing heat, Azy’s body tightened. “No. right now I’m thinking about fucking.”  
“Good. If I untie you, will you stay?”  
“Yes” he was intrigued. What have you got up your sleeve, Farm boy?  
Puruzi untied him and Azy rolled his shoulders, waiting.  
“It took me a long time to learn everything about you” Puruzi began in a conversational tone, but while pushing Azy back towards the bed. Azy waited and seeing an answer was required of him, said “Why?”  
“You’re so Gods-damm bossy all the time.”  
Azy almost laughed. That was the pot calling the kettle. But he remained outwardly submissive, because he wanted to know where this was going.  
“So now, continued Puruzi, I want you to lay back and I’m going to learn every inch of you and you’re going to let me do it. “  
Azy was so startled he broke the scene. “Hang on Aviachi. Like Underworld you will.”  
“Azy, I think it’ll help you. Think about it. This is the first time you’ve ever used your safe word with me.”  
“That’s not- He stopped. It was true. “Gods,” he sank down on the bed and Puruzi sat next to him, switching off the fireball.  
“Sorry to shock you like that.”  
“How did you know?” Azy turned to look at his partner.  
“For Goddess’s sake, Azy. How many times have we done knife play? That’s your kink, not mine. But that night I needed someone to put me on the edge and say, this awful thing that happened to you. It wasn’t your fault. And you did that. Because you knew what I needed, not what I wanted. I don’t know what it means all I know is no one will ever know us like we know each other. Trust me, Azy. Trust in the pair-bond.”  
“I will remind you the last time you said that we ended up running for our lives from robot-dogs in the nude.”  
“You’re changing the subject.”  
“No, just pointing out…” He stopped himself with an effort. “I’m yours.”  
“Sometimes,” Puruzi grinned and draped himself over Azy’s body.  
It wasn’t so much the pleasure Puruzi was coaxing from his body that was familiar, it was being still and letting it happen. Trusting not only his body to crest to orgasm without as much activity as he was used to but to trust the pair-bond to drive away the aftermath of what the Project had done to him. To focus on the link that was Puruzi, always there like an echo to tune it now into sharp notes, required a release of its own. And when both things crested and fell, it was as though his mind had been remade. He reached up to stroke Puruzi’s face, to run his fingers over the other man’s lips, holding on to the metal cleanness. 

Flying down the corridor with about a fifth of a small army after her, Cassie felt the strange click that meant a vision. She rounded the corner, only to come face to face with the man in the ‘40’s greatcoat, the man that was and was not Puruzi.  
“Puruzi.”  
The man looked up and the ancient sorrow in his eyes made her stagger. Oh Puruzi! But he wasn’t looking at her, he was gazing at something past her, a young woman who walked past Cassie’s line of sight to bend down and take his hand. Cassie caught a glimpse of forest-green eyes and a broken heart. “I’m so sorry, Jack”  
Jack? The Trickster of Tricksters. The never ending lie. Cassie almost laughed. Almost.  
Then, as often happened with her visions, the moments snapped, and Puruzi’s voice called her back to the here and now.  
“Come on Cass, move!”  
She turned, saw them sprinting towards her saw the soldiers behind them, and knew what she had to do. Planting both feet, she called “Get behind me, but stay back at least 5 inches, ok?”  
They dashed past her, then Azy seeming to remember, called “Cass, your claws aren’t that long. What are we standing back for?”  
All she could say was “It’s not my claws”  
“Then what is it?”  
“This” and she drew it up from within her, the charge and the force field together, the force of her whole life, gathered like a laser out through her body. She knew it wasn’t possible but it seemed to her, as she drew the energy up and out that she saw everything. All the masks Puruzi would wear, all the death Azy would cause. She saw them leaving each other than coming back like binary stars, and she wept as she sparked and burned, as the soldiers were vaporized, for she had begun all of it.  
“Cassie!” Azeban threw himself against the barrier uselessly, watching as she burned, the shell of her flesh and bone melted away, leaving only the blueish pinkish glow of her essence, like a nova, behind.  
Years later, at what he thought at the time would be the end of his life, Puruzi would describe to another woman he loved the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. And he wouldn’t say this, because he’d hide his past as long as he lived, but he would be thinking of Cassandra and the heartbreaking glow of her life. 

Puruzi hit the metal ship’s side and bit back a wince. Not that bodily pain was high on his list of priorities right now, physical pain was almost anti-climactic in a way. He ducked Azy’s wild left hook, and kicked his legs out from under him. His nose was definitely broken, but he couldn’t remember if he’d broken Azy’s nose in return. Something smashed into the back of his head and trying to stay awake was like drowning in syrup. His last thought before blackness was I should have seen that coming  
When Puruzi woke up, Azy was flying the ship and he was bound to a chair, with as he discovered after testing them, knots that were probably illegal on his home world and several others. He cleared his throat, longed to clear his nose, both were clogged with blood. Either Azy had been beating him while he was out, or the fight had been worse than he’d thought.  
“Azy.”  
Azy turned around and said very calmly a string of what might have been curse words. He then turned back around. Puruzi blinked, it was like being slapped by mental whips.  
“Azy. Please.” he coughed, and wondered if his windpipe had been partially crushed. They had never fought like that before. That hadn’t been tussling, it had been hate.  
“I’m sorry, Azy. I’m so sorry she’s dead,” his eyes welled, tears dripping down to mix with the blood. He gagged a little, it teased of death.  
Azy did something to the control panel and turning crossing the chamber to stand in front of Puruzi’s chair. “I don’t care. I don’t frecking care, you held me back, and I could have saved her.” “Nothing would have stopped her, Azy.” He didn’t bother to hide the sob in his voice. Cass Cass. Oh gods.  
And there was the refrain he thought he’d buried. You let go...  
“No I didn’t I didn’t” he realized too late he was speaking aloud.  
Azy stared at him. “You didn’t what?”  
“Let go of her”  
“Oh. Yes you did. That’s exactly what you did, you let her die.”  
“Then why aren’t I dead too, Azy? Huh?”  
“I’m not going to kill you. Puruzi G-1. The favored son. I’m going to let you live. But nowhere near me. I can’t stand the sight of you.”  
“You can’t Azy! What about the pair-bond? She wouldn’t have wanted you to become a psychopath!”  
Azy laughed that horrible low chuckle again. ‘I’ve always been a psychopath, my lovely Farm boy. You’ve just been keeping me quiet and in my cage but no more.”  
Azy, you can’t be serious. What are you going to do, stick me in a cell forever?”  
“Nope,” Azeban picked up Puruzi’s right arm, shook it. “I’ve set your straps coordinates for Earth: December 1940”  
“You have got to be kidding me, Azeban! You cannot drop me in pre-integration Earth! What am I supposed to do there?”  
“You’re from a backwater. You should fit right in”  
Azy, for God’s sake...” His head was killing him everything was spinning. Just two days ago he had been holding this man in his arms. This was not happening.  
“Coordinate out now, Puruzi. Otherwise I’ll drop you out of the ship’s hatch and I can’t guarantee you’ll survive that. Your choice”  
Puruzi’s left hand moved automatically to type in the go codes. When had he been untied, stood up? He couldn’t remember.  
“Azy” he heard his own voice break, felt something physically crack in his chest like a dead branch. Was this what heartbreak felt like?  
But Azeban did not turn to look at him, and his strap beeped and said “coordinates locked, do not move” and….

Cold. Gods, so cold. He had landed in an empty field. Standard procedure. He looked around damn 1940s Earth was freezing. He remembered vaguely it was their winter. He pulled the flap down over his strap and began to walk out of the field. 20th century Earth had drinks didn’t it? He’d kill for a hyper vodka and he was still covered in blood. He need to wash it off and find new clothing and some money, somewhere…  
Something bright caught his eye, something large and fast, hurtling across the sky towards the city.  
Hmm. What is that?  
He pulled his thin clothing around himself tighter and stepped out into London.  
END


End file.
